In essence, we are all the same. There is no one greater or less than another, in essence. When the mind is not established in the Essence, in the core of being, we are off-balance. Differences are created by imbalance. The imbalance is in the mind. When the mind is balanced, reality is perceived. When the mind is not balanced, there is misperception. Misunderstanding follows from misperception.

To make the mind balanced, the Truth must be brought into focus. The Truth is brought into focus when images are removed from the mind.

What is the Truth, and what are ‘images?’ The Truth is that which cannot be imagined. Images of the truth can never be the Truth. Images are ideas formed from impressions. Impressions are formed from actions performed with an interested motive. In other words, impressions (Samskaras) are formed in the mind when actions are done with ego. Ego is the idea ‘I am the doer.’ When this idea, which is also an image, is eliminated, all other images are also dissolved.

The idea that ‘I am the doer’ can never be dissolved by simply ceasing to act. Ceasing to act is the equivalent of succumbing to (surrendering to) ego. Ego can only be overcome by acting (living, working) without the idea of ego. This is the essence of Karma Yoga, and Karma Yoga is just another name for Raja Yoga, which is just another name for YOGA. Some people misconstrue Yoga as consisting of different ‘types,’ but in fact the different types of Yoga are really just different aspects of Yoga.

Yoga is the union of the mind with the divine. The ‘divine’ is that which is beyond the mind. The mind is united with the divine only when it is balanced, and it is balanced only when it is free of images. The mind is finally free of images only when ego is expelled from the mind, and ego is expelled only through the performance of action without ego.

The performance of action without ego is a process. The progression of the purification of the mind is facilitated by the practice of Yoga. The practice of Yoga means the consistent and persistent effort to balance the mind through the removal of mental states which are contrary to one’s higher nature. One’s higher nature is the Truth that one is Pure Consciousness, undistorted, immutable, indestructible and unimaginable. The Truth is one’s Essence. When the mind is purified, the Truth is ‘reflected’ in that mind and one is Enlightened.

The Enlightened One is the Self that has completely purified the mind. Enlightenment is the aim of the Game of Life. The Game of Life can only be won by becoming completely egoless, which can only be accomplished by living and working without expressing ego. Merely repressing ego will not result in egolessness. Transcendence is necessary, and transcendence means to live and work and go beyond (transcend) ego. Eventually, this work causes the complete disintegration of ego—that is, the ego ceases to be integrated with the mind (the mind/ego connection is broken). Ego still exists in the Enlightened One; it is just no longer present in the mind. When ego is no longer present in the mind, one has complete presence of mind—the mind fully reflects the light of Consciousness.

This is called the realization of Truth, which means the actualization (manifestation) of one’s real nature (Higher Nature, Soul) through the purification of the mind.